Trisha leaned her forehead onto the glass pane of her
bedroom window.It felt cool,soothing.Outside, rain lashed out at the city with
all the fury the ebony clouds could muster; drenching every tree,pebble, and
whitewashed roof; chilling every bone and making the mercury zoom into a
downward spiral.

Inside, though, the rain of Trisha’s tears did nothing to
quell the heat of her impotent rage, the scorching flame of her misery, which
every strangled sob only served to increase."I could have borne it if it had
been some other girl,” she thought desperately, for the hundredth
time."Anyone,any girl,in all of this whole college.But,Ankita,Ankita…!”

She felt so alone,neglected.Over two weeks,the humiliation
of being cheated had slowly ebbed.She was even slowly getting over not being
with Aryan anymore,trying to steel herself when she saw him occasionally at the
cafetaria or the corridors.But Ankita… It was different with Ankita.She
probably would never get over her.All the times they’d giggled together over
inane things,drooled over a dozen hunks,their mutual fondness for watermelon
juice,and,well,a zillion other things.How could Ankita just throw all of this
away so cheaply,their beautiful friendship?Had her best friend of five years
really been so shallow?Was this Ankita,her Ankita?

Her phone trilled sharply, abruptly slicing across her
thoughts.For a brief,exhilarating moment,she thought it was Ankita,or even
Aryan.She brushed away her tears,and reached for the phone.No…neither of
them…Sarang’s name flashed across the neon screen.Disappointment peeked a
little,but a wave of surprise,mingling with relief,soon overtook it.Sarang had
completely disappeared since that fateful day, when he espied his girlfriend
openly cavorting with someone else.He had just gone off,and been incommunicando
as well.Trisha had pushed herself to college each day,and Arundhati’s carefully
cheerful tact had achieved it’s purpose with Trisha,at least some bit.She had
borne it,been her rational,dutiful self.But Sarang had surprised everyone who
knew him.He’d stopped coming to college,and no one could reach him.Mayank had
said that on that day,while Trisha had fled to the safe confines of the
library, Sarang had stood there,just stood there."That bitch didn’t even speak
to him”, Mayank had intoned, referring to Ankita."She just made a disgusting
face, and ran off,pulling along her lover boy.”"Well, who would have ever
thought that Sarang,of all people would fall this hard for that bimbo?”, Jose
often said these days."Sarang, dude;he,well, nothing ever really got to him.He
was the Ice Man.”

His friends had just begun to get frantic about him,and
now,he had called on this wet evening,called Trisha,who couldn’t find it in her
to help him,for all the brave face she put up.

She nervously hit “Answer” on her phone, and said “Hello…”

She almost didn’t recognise the voice on the other end,it
was so taut and strained.

"Hey,Trish.”

“Sarang, dude, you okay or what?”, Trisha asked, the worry
of the past two weeks creeping into her voice despite her best efforts.

“Nah, not one bit, and you know it.But how’re you doing?”

“You idiot, where have you been for the past two weeks?Do
you know how worried everyone is?Have you at least kept folks at home in the
know?Where the hell are you now,anyway?”

“Hey, hey, go easy, Trish”,came the voice at the other
end;and Trisha could detect a smile behind the bitterness.

“Sarang”, Trisha said.”Sarang…”; and suddenly a storm of
tears broke out; and she couldn’t ebb the flow or the sobs despite her best
efforts.

“Trish, listen gal, hey Trisha…listen…don’t cry…don’t cry,
babe.You’ll be okay…don’t worry…Trisha?”

Through the wall of her overflowing grief, Trisha could
still sense Saran’s concern, despite his own loss; and it touched her.

“Sarang, will you come to college tomorrow?Please say you
will.Arundhati and everyone else is sweet, but oh…I sort of…well,I sort of feel
only you can really understand,you know,about Ankita,I mean…”

“Yeah.Yeah,I will.Now please get a hold on
yourself,Trish.Don’t wreck yourself this bad.You’re such a strong person.You
can get over it.You can handle anything.”

Trisha grinned through her tears.Sarang,of all
people,shouldn’t have been lecturing her about not going to pieces."I
will.Thanks,Sarang.”

“See ya in college,then”,Sarang said,and it seemed like some
measure of his purposeful,in-control self had returned.

Trisha disconnected.She smiled.It was good to have a
friend.And no,she didn’t think of the one that had betrayed her.Not for this
moment,anyway.

                                 Sarang was back duly the next
day.A little lost,perhaps;and his face went taut and his fists clenched when he
saw Ankita and Aryan walk by hand-in-hand.But on the whole,the Ice Man was
back.He didn’t seem willing to talk about anything,and brushed away attempts to
start a heart-to-heart on The Breakup;but he listened to Trisha as she opened
up,quietly and seriously.And slowly,Trisha got over Ankita,too.She was back in
the groove;going to movies,sipping cold coffee on the stairs,laughing freely
and often.Even drank countless glasses of watermelon juice without the sharp
pang.

And it was a relief 
that her time didn’t have to be stretched between Ankita the new set she
had taken to after enrolling for her degree.And she was definitely glad she was
spared of the Barbie dolls she had had to endure because they were Ankita’s
“cutie-cutie,bestest friends,after Trisha,of course”.and

Life was good.And even better was that she had a
friend,many,in fact,who were a lot like her-reading Shelley and
Byron,appreciative of  twilight
stillness,who didn’t presume that Saturday night ought to be spent in a smoky
disc.But could still giggle inanely over nothing,and caper foolishly.

Trisha’s heart often went out in a rush of gratitude to her
friends,most of all,Sarang,who had made all of this possible.It was good to
have a friend.